Purple Iris

Sometime last summer, I was scrolling through a cross stitch e-magazine that I'd downloaded from the library website, and I came across an iris chart. I love purple irises, so I stitched it on a scrap of aida cloth. I loved it, but wasn't yet sure what I wanted to do with it, so I set it aside. Lately I've been thinking about making it into a pin and today was the day.

I have a pile of clothing that I picked up at the charity shop, a piece or two at a time. I would not want to wear most of this stuff, even if it was my size, because it's mostly made of fabrics that are cool to look at but would be yucky to wear. Still, I know that tastes differ and that any particular item could be exactly what someone else is looking for. For that reason, I try to buy stuff that is unlikely to sell. One of the local charity shops has a rail at the front of the store and they sell stuff for 50 cents or a euro. These are things that are damaged in some way (buttons or embellishments missing, stained, ripped, etc) or that have been in the store for a long time and are not selling. I buy things from there for the fabric, the buttons, and/or the embellishments. In this way, I get some really fun and interesting materials to work with and keep a few things out of the landfill. Yay!

Sometimes I get some happy surprises, too. Last week I was cutting up part of a small beaded satin jacket for a project when I discovered a great lining inside. I love it when things have linings because these are usually a different fabric and colour from the outside.

The fabric I used for the base of the brooch comes from a 'dress.' It was a very short dress and was strapless, so there was not a whole lot of fabric involved. I loved the colours though, and it had a lining, so it ends up being a decent amount and I usually use little bits at a time anyway. I made a sort of mini quilt for the base, using the outer dress fabric. For the inside, to give it stability, I used part of the padded bust piece that was in between layers of the dress. Then I sewed on a piece of a lace waistband from a sundress I'd picked up before attaching the cross-stitched iris. I sewed the pin to the back and I was done.

I'm wearing it now.

I guess it won't be long before the irises and daffodils start blooming, but before that, it looks like we have another blast of winter coming for a few days. We've just returned from the shop so if it gets icy, we won't have to venture out.

Hope the week is a good one in your part of the world!

Share